Cars, Freeways & Sprawl

The city the automobile built: the freeway network, the death of the streetcars, the Dodgers brought west in 1958, and the endless horizontal sprawl.

Part of Los Angeles

14 moments in this segment.

1. 1894 — Cable car on Broadway just north of 2nd Street looking south, Los Angeles, ca.1893-1895. Los Angeles, 1894. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
2. 1895 — Bridge across the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza, showing the first cable-car to cross it, ca.1…. Los Angeles, 1895. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
3. 1905 — The Balloon Route trolley (1905). The Pacific Electric "Balloon Route" — the streetcar network that first shaped the sprawling region.
4. 1915 — Stevens Duryea Automobile, Silver Motors 657 South Atlantic Blvd., East Los Angeles,.... Los Angeles, 1915. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
5. 1916 — Cyclopedia of applied electricity - a general reference work on direct-current generator…. Los Angeles, 1916. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
6. 1935 — 1930s California home movies (silent). A road trip across 1930s California on film.
7. 1947 — California (1947, travelfilmarchive). A 1947 travelogue across Southern California.
8. 1958 — Inaugural 1958 games — Dodgers at the Coliseum. Footage of the Dodgers’ first West-Coast season, 1958.
9. 1959 — Safe driving on Los Angeles freeways (1959). A 1959 educational film on the new freeways — real period footage.
10. 1962 — Building the highways, 1960s (Kinolibrary). From the Kinolibrary Archive Film collections. To order the clip clean and high res or to find out more visit Clip ref. BPA93.
11. 1975 — Wilshire Blvd in the 1970s (vintage footage). Los Angeles, 1975.
12. 2018-12-11 — The four-level interchange — 70 years. Los Angeles, 1953.
13. 2019-03-31 — Dodgers 1958. Film of the Dodgers’ first year in LA.
14. 2023-11-20 — The Santa Monica Freeway, before & after. Los Angeles, 1965.